Army Game

It happened in the first quarter of Navy's wild overtime victory over San Jose State two Saturdays ago. It happened in the last regular season game before the Midshipmen get to play in their version of the Super Bowl , next week's 114th Army-Navy Game. It's something that happens just about every week somewhere in the football world, but it shouldn't have happened to this kid. Senior wide receiver Matt Aiken pulled in 10-yard pass and felt a shoulder pad crash into his left leg. He knew right away that something was wrong, because he already knew way too much about what football can do to the inside of a healthy knee.

Life is a lot different for Worth Smith than many undergraduates across the nation. The Navy junior men's basketball player's life is very regimented. Every day, the Navy forward wakes up, showers and he shaves. He dresses sharp, and makes sure his shoes are clean. At 7 a.m., Smith heads to formation, then breakfast, then class from 7:55 a.m. to 11:45 a.m., and lunch. Between lunch and class resuming, Smith and his teammates watch film. Once class ends, around 3:30 p.m., he goes straight to practice, then back to formation, dinner, and study time. “There is a lot of stuff you have to do, a lot of stuff on your plate, and they expect you to be able to do it all,” Smith said.

It's a fitful dream, one that has haunted Dick Nowak for 50 years. In it, Army's football team has the ball on Navy's 2-yard line. Trailing by six points, Nowak and the Cadets line up to run a final play as precious seconds tick away. And then? Time runs out - and Nowak wakes up. “The ending is always the same,” he said resignedly. “We never get the play off.” The dream is all too real. In 1963, that's how Army lost to Navy, 21-15, in a game deeply etched in the lore of their 144-year rivalry.

PHILADELPHIA - Navy freshman cornerback Brendon Clements had gained plenty of on-field experience going into his first Army-Navy game, having started for much of his first year in Annapolis. Yet when Clements woke up Saturday morning at the team's hotel, he was more nervous than he had ever been for a college game. The feeling didn't go away after he went to breakfast, nor did it after he a pregame meeting. “I told some of the other players I haven't been nervous all year and I'm nervous now, and we haven't even left for the game yet,” Clements recalled a few hours later.

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- Beat Army.Those words will take on doubly important significance this December because Navy is in position to win its first outright Commander In Chief's Trophy since 1981.XTC That is courtesy of yesterday's come-from-behind 20-17 victory at Air Force, which has monopolized possession of the trophy in recent seasons."This means the seniors have an opportunity to win [the trophy]," Navy coach Charlie Weatherbie said after what he labeled "my biggest win as a head coach."

When Naval Academy officials went against standard operating procedures by rehiring George Chaump before the end of the season, it served the dual purpose of lending continuity to the program while also serving as a motivational weapon for the Midshipmen in their traditional battle with Army on Saturday.Only last week at a pre-game news conference at Giants Stadium, athletic director Jack Lengyel said Chaump's future would be weighed by the Athletic Board of Control after the Army game. But Lengyel said yesterday that there was no need to wait.

When Naval Academy officials went against standard operating procedures by rehiring George Chaump before the end of the season, it served the dual purpose of lending continuity to the football program while also serving as a motivational weapon for the Midshipmen in their traditional battle with Army on Saturday.Only last week at a pre-game news conference at Giants Stadium, athletic director Jack Lengyel said Chaump's future would be weighed by the Athletic Board of Control after the Army game.

The Ravens would like to play host to the annual Army-Navy showdown -- or any other Navy football games -- at their new stadium should the event move from Philadelphia's Veterans Stadium in the wake of a railing collapse on Saturday.The Ravens have the right under their lease with the Maryland Stadium Authority to book non-NFL events and split the profits with the state agency.Just before the opening of the new downtown stadium this year the team gave a tour of the facility to Navy's athletic director, Jack Lengyl, and other school officials, said Ravens executive director James Bailey.

The backups stepped front and center Saturday night and, suddenly, unbeaten Navy is looking like a football team that might have its first winning season in 14 years.Coach Charlie Weatherbie was never more appreciative of the luxury he has with two front-line quarterbacks and two front-line kickers than on the last drive of a stirring, 19-17 win over Southern Methodist, when Tom Vanderhorst kicked a game-winning 38-yard field goal on the final play.Senior quarterback Ben Fay, relegated to the shadows by a 140-yard rushing effort by Chris McCoy, got the Midshipmen there with a 55-yard advance to the Mustangs' 21, a drive in which he completed three key passes for 44 yards.

In this dreariest of autumns for the team, Navy's Chris Lepore has been a sliver of warm sunshine. A preseason All-America choice by numerous publications, the senior free safety has lived up to the accolades while his team has struggled through what could be only the third winless season in academy history. "It doesn't really matter what my statistics are because the team is 0-10," Lepore said as Navy prepared for its annual showdown with archrival Army on Saturday. "I just want to go out with a win more than anything else.

It's a fitful dream, one that has haunted Dick Nowak for 50 years. In it, Army's football team has the ball on Navy's 2-yard line. Trailing by six points, Nowak and the Cadets line up to run a final play as precious seconds tick away. And then? Time runs out - and Nowak wakes up. “The ending is always the same,” he said resignedly. “We never get the play off.” The dream is all too real. In 1963, that's how Army lost to Navy, 21-15, in a game deeply etched in the lore of their 144-year rivalry.

Boo Corrigan is torn. His parents Gene and Lena were born and raised in Baltimore, and the younger Corrigan started a sports marketing company in the city. But as the athletic director for the United States Military Academy, Corrigan is understandably wary about the Army-Navy football game returning to Charm City for 2014 and 2016. "I feel most for our cadets who have to get up that morning and take an eight-hour bus ride down," Corrigan said. "They're leaving in the military term of oh-dark-thirty to get down to Baltimore.

It happened in the first quarter of Navy's wild overtime victory over San Jose State two Saturdays ago. It happened in the last regular season game before the Midshipmen get to play in their version of the Super Bowl , next week's 114th Army-Navy Game. It's something that happens just about every week somewhere in the football world, but it shouldn't have happened to this kid. Senior wide receiver Matt Aiken pulled in 10-yard pass and felt a shoulder pad crash into his left leg. He knew right away that something was wrong, because he already knew way too much about what football can do to the inside of a healthy knee.

Wednesday night's 2-1 win against Lehigh coupled with Army's 2-1 loss to Holy Cross gave the Navy men's soccer team sole possession of first place in the Patriot League. That might seem to be cause for at least a small celebration by coach Dave Brandt, right? Wrong, Brandt said Thursday afternoon. “I have no reaction,” he deadpanned. “We're 7-0 [in the conference], and there are teams right behind us, and nothing's done yet. We've got two more games. We haven't even clinched [a]

CBS Sports Network analyst Evan Washburn took part in a Q&A on Monday. The former Delaware defenseman, who can be followed on Twitter via @EvanWashburn, also answered a few questions about Johns Hopkins, No. 9 Maryland, No. 11 Loyola and No. 16 Johns Hopkins. Johns Hopkins' streak of 41 consecutive appearances in the NCAA tournament ended Sunday night. Was that the right decision by the selection committee? For sure. It was obvious. I did their Army game on Friday night and was able to speak with [coach Dave Pietramala]

While trying to assemble the best team possible to renew the Big 33 Football Classic rivalry with Pennsylvania this summer, the Maryland Big 33 coaches have run into a few more challenges than anticipated. Enough skill position players turned out, but not enough linemen, when Big 33 officials invited 139 players to a tryout combine at the Ravens' Under Armour Performance Center in Owings Mills on Feb. 9. Gilman coach Biff Poggi, who will coach Maryland in the Big 33, and his assistants hope to remedy that by having more linemen attend the final tryout on March 9 in Crofton.

Coach Paul Johnson was rewarded with a contract extension yesterday after turning around the moribund Navy football program in less than two years. Only two days after denying interest in the vacant position at Duke, Johnson agreed to remain at the academy through the 2009 season, giving him two more years on his contract. Financial terms were not disclosed. After going 2-10 in Johnson's first year, the Midshipmen are 7-4 this fall with only their annual rivalry against winless Army remaining, unless a bowl invitation is extended thereafter.

With his future as the Naval Academy's football coach reportedly in jeopardy, George Chaump has taken a strong stance in his defense on the eve of the season-ending game with Army in Philadelphia.This time a year ago, Chaump received a vote of confidence from athletic director Jack Lengyel in the form of a year's contract extension."We wanted to give George a chance to teach his senior class of kids he personally recruited," said Lengyel. "But now we'll follow our usual procedure of evaluating the situation as soon as the season ends."

Quarterbacks Trent Steelman and Keenan Reynolds will come into Saturday's Army-Navy game at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia from nearly opposite directions. The 113th meeting between the service academies will be Steelman's last game in a collegiate career in which he set Army records for rushing touchdowns (44) and consecutive starts (32), but led the Black Knights to only one winning season (7-6 in 2010). It will mark the seventh career start for Reynolds. The first Navy quarterback to start a game as a freshman in more than two decades, Reynolds has accounted for 17 touchdowns (eight passing)

Rarely, if ever, will a game between a team with a modest 7-4 record and its 2-9 opponent be as meaningful as the one scheduled to play here at Lincoln Financial Field on Dec. 8. Then again, this year's meeting between Navy and Army has more at stake than usual. It marks the first time since 2005 that the Commander in Chief's Trophy — given to the winner of the round robin played out among the nation's service academies — will be handed to the team that emerges victorious from this iconic rivalry.